Global Fund grants Burundi US$ 135m to fight HIV/AIDS

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- Burundi will receive a grant of US$ 135 million over the next five years, under the eighth round of the Global Fund to Fight HIV /AI D S, Tuberculosis and Malaria, official sources said in Bujumbura.
The funds will be allocated to the "Intensification and Decentralization Program me for the Fight against HIV/AIDS (PRIDE)," said Burundian first Vice-President i n charge of Political, Administrative and Security Affairs, Yves Sahinguvu, on T u esday.
Sahinguvu explained that, from the first two years, the programme was expected t o facilitate the voluntary testing of 670,352 people, the anti-retroviral (ARV) t reatment of 18,900 adults and 2,100 children patients and the protection against mother-to-child transmission of AIDS of 6,680 HIV-positive pregnant women.
The programme also plans the provision of nutritional supplements to 4,098 HIV-p ositive pregnant women and 7,349 children born to HIV positive parents and of sc h ool supplies to 117,000 vulnerable children.
According to Sahinguvu, the overall and long-term objective of the project is to strengthen the fight against sexually-transmitted infections, to integrate repr o ductive health, to qualitatively and quantitatively enhance the therapeutic care of people living with HIV/AIDS as well as their psychosocial care.
It also aimed at building the capacities of the community by protecting their ri ghts, supporting and reducing the economic impact of the pandemic on people livi n g with HIV, orphans and other vulnerable people.
In Burundi, the rate of seroprevalence is estimated at 4.
59 per cent in cities, against 4.
41 per cent in semi-urban centers and 2.
82 per cent in the rural area.
The first cases of the pandemic were reported in 1983 in Burundi, where a minist ry at the Presidency in charge of fighting AIDS was recently established.